The Syracuse Spammers are not a minor league team in an e-sports league

The Syracuse spammers sent me another spammy email:

Dear Dr. Gelman,

This is a reminder from Molecular Psychiatry that your review of “Concerns regarding the interpretation of “opposing roles” of microglial and macrophagic C3ar1 signaling” by Zhiqian Yu and Mai Sakai [Paper # 2026MP001421] is due on 2nd Aug 2026.

To view the manuscript and prepare your review, click on the link below:

https://mts-mp.nature.com/cgi-bin/main.plex?el=A2Bb2Otr7A3BcgY7F2A9ftdUZeMKPzaClYYmLgUnxOP5AZ

Please let us know as soon as possible if you will be unable to meet the proposed due date (via reply e-mail).

Sincerely,

Julio Licinio, MD, PhD, MBA, MS, FRANZCP, FAAHMS
Editor-in-Chief, Molecular Psychiatry

4465 E Genesee Street # 217

Syracuse, NY 13214, USA

This email has been sent through the Springer Nature Manuscript Tracking System NY-610A- Springer Nature&MTS

Confidentiality Statement:

This e-mail is confidential and subject to copyright. Any unauthorised use or disclosure of its contents is prohibited.

My review is “due,” huh, asshole?

But, hey, some joker at Springer Nature is making money from whatever suckers are there to pay the publication fee. And, hey, everybody’s gotta make a living, right?

Regarding the title of this post: People have informed me that the above strip mall is the address of a UPS store, which presumably Licinio is using as a mailbox. That makes sense. But I still don’t get (a) why not use his academic affiliation and address, and (b) why give a mailing address in the solicitation at all? Not to mention, (c) why does he keep spamming me? “C3ar1 signaling,” indeed.

Spreading the Nature brand a bit thin, are we now?

Remember, reputation is a two-way street. Franchise your name to enough spam journals, and it’ll come back to bite you.

Or have the powers-that-be at Nature decided that the glory days of journals are ending, and it’s time for what the mobsters call the bust-out phase, where you sell everything of value, strip out all the copper wires, and torch the place for the insurance money?